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ape

ape

13 8.3
A person who copies another person's words or actions without original ideas
  • noun
  • /eɪp/
  • Offensive
translation icon : imitador (insulto)
  • I’m an ape from the Stone Age, remember?

Examples

  • "We must look like apes to you after so many years at the books."

    Fiction book (1990)
  • He always tries to ape the way his favorite actors speak in movies.

  • Please teach me how to be an ape, too.

  • Once you were apes, and even now, man is more ape than any ape.

    Blog text (18)
  • We will ape the opposite sex and try and be as tough and predatory as its worst members can be.

  • During the presentation, he began to ape the gestures of the speaker, which made everyone laugh.

  • When she dresses like her favorite pop star, she feels like she is aping her style.

Synonyms

copycat
vsape
  • Offensive
72 3.3

A person who does the same things or says the same words as another person

is more about slavish imitation than legal or permission issues
parrot
vsape
  • Offensive
18 6.8

A person who repeats other people's words or actions without understanding them

is more about slavish copying rather than lack of understanding
imitator
vsape
9 3.4

A person who copies another person's words, actions, or style

is more about slavish unoriginal copying than neutral copying
mimic
vsape
8 4.2

A person who copies others' actions or voice to make people laugh

is more concerned with slavish unoriginal copying than playful imitation
emulator
vsape
5 6.8

A person who tries to copy and match someone's words or actions

is about slavish unoriginal copying rather than admiring improvement
aper
vsape
9.9

A person who copies another person's words or actions without their own ideas

is more slavish and suggests blind copying rather than choice
mimicker
vsape
6.2

A person who copies others' voices, actions, or gestures to entertain people

is more about slavish unoriginal copying than staged performance
imitatrix
vsape
  • Archaic
9.9

A woman or girl who copies the style of others

is the neutral modern term used for slavish unoriginal copying

Compounds

5 3.4

A large animal like a gorilla or orangutan with no tail and closely related to humans

ape-man
  • Literature
1 9.9

A person raised by apes in stories or myths

1 8.9

A monkey without a tail that lives on rocky cliffs and in forests of northwest Africa and Gibraltar

anthropoid ape
  • Specialized
6.3

A large tailless animal like a gorilla or chimpanzee that is more like humans than other monkeys

A dominant ape who leads and controls other apes

ape-man
  • Archaic
9.1

An early human with features between apes and people today

A small agile animal that lives in trees with long arms and no tail

8.1

A human described as an animal to show basic natural instincts

rape ape
  • Slur
9.9

An extremely offensive insult that says someone commits sexual violence

9.9

A woman who acts in a very foolish and clumsy way

yard ape
  • Slang
9.9

A lively child who likes to climb and play noisy games

How Imitative

ape
  • Offensive
13 8.3
to mimic
77 3.1
to copy
177 1.0

Surface Forms

ape singular
apes plural

Etymology

Ape meaning 'a person who imitates' comes from the idea that apes copy actions; a helpful way to remember it is to think of an 'ape' as someone who simply 'copies' others without adding new ideas.